There were five famous Empress Dou in Chinese history, namely Empress Xiaowen Dou of the Western Han Dynasty, Empress Dou of the Huan Emperor and Empress Dou of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Empress Dowager Dou of the Tang Dynasty, Empress Dowager Dou of the Tang Dynasty, and Empress Dowager Dou of the Northern Wei Dynasty. Among them, the most well-known is Empress Xiaowen Dou of the Western Han Dynasty, who has gone through four dynasties, assisted by Emperor Wen, Emperor Jing, and Emperor Wu of the three generations of emperors, and her power has fallen to the opposition, which can be described as a famous name in Qing history. However, the five Empress Dou were not Dou Yifang's "Crown Pressure Qunfang", and Empress Dowager Dou of the Northern Wei Taiwu Emperor was also a legendary woman.
Slaves in the palace
Dou was born in a famous family in Hunyuan, and she received a good education from an early age, knowing books and etiquette, and being quiet and pure. However, the weather was unpredictable, and when Dou Was young, her family committed a major crime and was full of doors. Dou's husband and the men in the family were killed, and her daughter was spared, but she was also taken into captivity and became a palace maid.
Dou was a family member of a death row prisoner, and according to the rules of the time, she was the most despicable presence in the palace. However, such tribulations did not consume Dou's self-esteem and hope, she was kind, intelligent, and sophisticated, and the Book of Wei praised her for being "sexually sympled, moody and angry, good at promoting the goodness of people, and hiding the faults of others."
The Prince's adoptive mother
Soon, Dou's reputation reached the ears of Tuoba Si, the Emperor of Wei Mingyuan, who personally summoned Dou. Logically, the family members of the criminal courtiers, the slaves in the palace, were trembling when they saw the emperor, but the Dou clan was not humble and insulted, and she answered the question of Emperor Mingyuan in a polite and courteous manner, which made Emperor Mingyuan very appreciative.
In the fifth year of emperor Taichang of the Ming Dynasty, Du Gui's concubine fell ill and died, and the twelve-year-old crown prince Tuoba Tao lost his birth mother. Emperor Mingyuan could not bear that his son would lose his mother at such a young age, and without maternal love, he wanted to find an adoptive mother to take care of him. Looking around, Emperor Mingyuan finally chose the Dou clan who "conducted pure preparations and retreated with courtesy".
In the First Biography of empress dowager Wei, it is recorded: "Emperor Taizong appointed him as the nanny of the ancestors. Sexual kindness, diligent caressing. The ancestors were grateful for their kindness and were not born with anything different. ”
Dou regarded Tuoba Tao as his own, took good care of him, gave him maternal love, and taught him by example and cultivated him carefully. Although Dou was a sinner, she was born into a famous and prestigious family, and she was exposed to Confucian culture since childhood, and her education level was very high. It was under Dou's education that Tuoba Tao was very close to the Han culture, which also laid the foundation for him to vigorously promote the Sinicization of Northern Wei after he ascended the throne. Tuoba Tao also regarded Dou as his own biological mother, and established a deep relationship with her and had great respect for her.
CrownEd Empress Dowager
In a feudal dynasty, the women who could get the title of queen concubine should have been favored by the emperor, or some of their blood was shed by the emperor of the future. Obviously, Dou Shi did not conform to either of these two articles, she was neither a concubine of Emperor Mingyuan nor the birth mother of Emperor Taiwu, she was only Tuoba Tao's adoptive mother, a former family member of a criminal subject.
However, after Tuoba Tao ascended the throne, in order to repay Dou's kindness, he honored her as Empress Bao. After Tuoba Tao sat firmly on the throne, he directly made Dou the empress dowager.
After being crowned empress dowager, dou still did not change his original intention and organized the harem in an orderly manner. Empress Dowager Dou rarely interfered in Tuoba Tao's administrative affairs, but when the country was in danger, she would come forward again.
In September of the fifth year of Taiyan (439), the Ruoran Khan Wu Ti took the army led by Emperor Taiwu Tuoba Tao to attack Liangzhou, and when the Northern Wei rear was empty, he launched a fierce attack on Northern Wei. Due to the lack of preparation, Rouran Iron rode several cities of Lianke and approached Tuyi Mountain. Seeing that the Rouran army was about to approach the city, the officers and soldiers of the Northern Wei capital Pingcheng were panicked and the people were in turmoil, and Mu Shou, who was in charge of defending the city, hurriedly asked Empress Dou to take the crown prince south for refuge.
What everyone did not expect was that Empress Dou, who had a gentle personality in normal days, actually drew out the battle knife of the guards around her, accusing Mu Shou of being timid and timid, and she was not in danger, calmly commanding the commanders Ofe Changsun Daosheng and Zhang Li, the general of the Northern Expedition, to quickly go to Tuyi Mountain to resist the enemy. After the two generals led the troops out of the city, Empress Dou mobilized the soldiers and civilians in the city to actively prepare for battle and prepare for a decisive battle with the enemy. Inspired by Empress Dowager Dou, the morale of The Northern Wei officers and soldiers was greatly boosted, and they bravely killed the enemy, repelled the Attack of Rouran, and saved the Northern Wei Dynasty.
In fact, with Empress Dou's merits and prestige, she could be like Empress Xiaowen Dou of the Western Han Dynasty, and be a power queen who tilted power to the opposition, but she always gave up power to Emperor Taiwu and became the backing of Emperor Taiwu.
In her later years, Empress Dowager Dou led people south to Mount Kun (崞山, which was then called Kun County (present-day Hunyuan), and she climbed to the top of the mountain, looking far away, and the Empress Dowager seemed to think of something, and she said plainly to the people around her: "My mother raised the emperor, worshiped the gods and loved people, if she died and did not perish, she would not be a ghost." However, there is no place in the first dynasty, and it is not allowed to violate the etiquette to follow the garden mausoleum. On top of this mountain, you can finally support. ”
It can be seen that Empress Dou did not have the slightest idea of transgressing the etiquette system for her own sake, and she calmly accepted that "no etiquette should be violated to the garden mausoleum" and chose a quiet place as her resting place.
Shortly after this trip, Empress Dou died at the age of sixty-three. Emperor Taiwu announced to the world for three days, performed a solemn and generous ceremony, and buried her in The Mountain according to the wishes of his adoptive mother Empress Dou.
From everyone's thousands of gold, to the families of sinners, from the most despicable slave in the palace, to the empress dowager of the mother's world, this great woman who was eternally buried in the mountain of Kunshan wrote a wonderful chapter with her legendary life.
Resources:
Book of Wei